Tibet

Aaaah Tibet. It has always been a dream of mine to visit Tibet someday and it was just as good (and sometimes better) as I wished for. Of course the trip started in the capital Lhasa. Even the trip from the airport to the city center delivered some amazing views on the Himalaya mountains.

Himalaya

The first day was spend by relaxing and doing as little as possible, to get used to the altitude of 3600 meters. We went to the Jokhang Temple which was close to our hotel.

Pilgrim

The second day we went back to the temple together with our guide who took us inside and explained all the different Buddhas.
Then it was time for lunch and we asked our guide to take us to a real authentic Tibetan restaurant. He took us to a place which apparently didn’t attract a lot of tourists, judging by all the suprised looks 😉

Lunch, Tibetan style

The afternoon was reserved for a visit to the Potala Palace, the former Dalai Lama residence. According to our guide there are 990 different rooms. We didn’t count them though. This place is as amazing in reality as it is famous. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside, but the outside gave us enough photo opportunities. Truly one of the most impressive buildings we have visited, and maybe the second most beautiful building we ever saw (the Taj Mahal is number one of course).

Potala Palace

142/365 Prayer wheels

Our third day in Lhasa started as the second day ended: with a headache and a terrible nauseous feeling. Yep we too got the altitude sickness 🙁
Still we went to the Drepung monastery in Lhasa, located upon on mountain with a spectacular view.

Drepung monastery

After this monastery we went to the Sera monastery and watched the young monks getting teached about Buddhism. We already started to feel better. This was also the last place in Lhasa we visited.

Sera monastery

The next day we started early for a long drive to the small town of Gyantse. On our way there the weather started changing and snow began to fall. But snow or sun, the Himalaya scenery is always spectacular.

Road to Gyantse

Road to Gyantse

The next day we went from Gyantse to the town of Shigatse. The roads were already filled with more traffic, although not the kind you see in the Netherlands.

Tibetan transport

In Shigatse we saw another monastery which was again interesting. The town however was a complete mess as the authorities decided to open up every single road at the same time. This turned Shigatse in one big dust storm.
The next day we traveled back to Lhasa. The same scenery as before, but this time with a blue sky and a nice temperature which made all the difference.

Road from Shigatse to Lhasa

This concluded our 6 day’s stay in Tibet. The next morning we took a flight to Chengdu. More to come…

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